Afghan Hears Foreign Concerns On Drugs and Political Dialogue

By WARREN HOGE

Published: September 24, 2007

A gathering on Sunday of foreign ministers and top diplomats from 18 countries involved in securing a stable future for Afghanistan focused on the rise in opium production and the use of drug proceeds to finance terrorism.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who presided over the meeting with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, said, ''The meeting expressed great concern at the expansion of poppy cultivation, as well as opium and heroin production, over the past year, underlining the link between the production and trafficking of illegal drugs and the financing of terrorist activities.''

He said the group had agreed that ''breaking this linkage is vital to creating a stable, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan.''

Mr. Ban said the participants, which included European nations and Afghanistan's neighbors, had agreed that ''there should be more efforts by President Karzai and Afghan leaders in promoting inclusive political dialogue for national reconciliation.'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice represented the United States at the meeting.

Mr. Karzai said his country was pursuing a process aimed at producing talks with Taliban members ''who are not part of Al Qaeda, who are not part of terrorist networks, who have, for one reason or the other, been forced or found in a position to leave Afghanistan or to pick up guns.''

He added: ''We are working hard on that. We are trying very hard to bring them back to the fold, to make them return and participate in the making of the country.''

Mr. Ban said the participants had urged the United Nations to do more in Afghanistan, but he warned that there were areas of the country too dangerous for a stepped-up United Nations presence. ''In order to carry out such efforts, we need a reasonable level of freedom of movement and security,'' he said.

PHOTO: Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, met yesterday with foreign officials and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.(PHOTOGRAPH BY OZIER MUHAMMAD/THE NEW YORK TIMES)